Thermodynamics

Temperature and Heat

Conceptual Questions
1. What does it mean to say that two systems are in thermal equilibrium?
Solution
They are at the same temperature, and if they are placed in contact, no net heat flows between
them.
2. If a thermometer is allowed to come to equilibrium with the air, and a glass of water is not in
equilibrium with the air, what will happen to the thermometer reading when it is placed in the
water?
Solution
The reading will change.
3. How is heat transfer related to temperature?
Solution
Temperature differences cause heat transfer.
4. When heat transfers into a system, is the energy stored as heat? Explain briefly.
Solution
No, it is stored as thermal energy. A thermodynamic system does not have a well-defined
quantity of heat.

5. What is the distinction between gas and vapor?

Solution
Vapor is gas in the presence of the liquid or solid phase of the same substance.
6. Heat transfer can cause temperature and phase changes. What else can cause these changes?
Solution
work

Problems
7. Suppose identical amounts of heat transfer into different masses of copper and water, causing
identical changes in temperature. What is the ratio of the mass of copper to water?
Solution
mc cw 1 kcal/kg ×°C
mw cw DT = Q = mc cc DT , = = = 10.8
mw cc 0.0924 kcal/kg ×°C
8. A 1.28-kg sample of water at 10.0 °C is in a calorimeter. You drop a piece of steel with a mass
of 0.385 kg at 215 °C into it. After the sizzling subsides, what is the final equilibrium
temperature? (Make the reasonable assumptions that any steam produced condenses into liquid
water during the process of equilibration and that the evaporation and condensation don’t affect
the outcome, as we’ll see in the next section.)
Solution
16.4 C

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